Healthy Protein-Rich Salad

Looking for a light but filling summer salad while doing our full body cleanse program? Look no further than this colourful medley of antioxidant and protein-rich plant foods. Many thanks to Kristen for showing us the way. - Ben Kim

A super refreshing summer salad for those nights you don't want to cook a hot meal!

Serves about 4

Ingredients:

For the Salad:

1 cup quinoa (we used rainbow quinoa for this recipe)
2 cups water (to cook quinoa in)

1 cup fresh blueberries (you can use thawed frozen blueberries if you can't get fresh)

1 cup cubed ripe mangoes

1 cup cubed cucumbers

For the Dressing:

3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
4 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
20 basil leaves, chopped just before serving as it will go black if added too early

Directions:

Place the quinoa and water in a medium saucepan and bring to boil (we rinse our Quinoa before cooking). Reduce heat and simmer covered for about 15 minutes or until the quinoa is cooked. Remove the lid and fluff with a fork. Let it cool to room temperature.

While the quinoa is cooking, combine the fruits and cucumber in a bowl. Refrigerate until you are ready to combine with the quinoa.

For the dressing, whisk together all of the dressing ingredients except for the chopped basil (add this just before serving). Refrigerate dressing until ready to serve.

When quinoa is cooled, add basil to dressing mixture, whisk, then add 1/2 dressing to the quinoa and mix gently.

Add quinoa to fruits and cucumber mixture and toss together. Add the last half of dressing to salad and toss once again and serve immediately.

This recipe was adapted from a similar version found at veggiebelly.com. Enjoy!